


Ballad

by BoldlyGone1



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Fisher POV, Gen, Oneshot, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Spoilers for Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 16:33:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16391237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoldlyGone1/pseuds/BoldlyGone1
Summary: You are a jellyfish, and you used to have a name that was low hums and high trills, but now you are called Fisher.





	Ballad

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a Tumblr post but then suddenly it was three pages, so here we are.

You are a jellyfish, and you used to have a name that was low hums and high trills, but now you are called Fisher.

You’re so young, and you lose your whole family and your whole world. Your new best friend Magnus saves you, and brings you to live with him and his friends. They love each other and they love you, and the pain slowly becomes easier to bear. You love your new family, and you never want to lose them.

And then you do. Everyone except Lucretia leaves the ship and they don’t come back. Lucretia tells you that it’s okay, that they’ll be back next year, but she’s afraid. She spends all her time desperately repairing the ship and fighting off enemies and searching for the Light, and she’s not eating or sleeping as much as she should. You watch her grow and mature very quickly over that year, and she talks to you even more than usual because it’s just the two of you, and she keeps saying the others will be back, but you’ve already lost one family and you don’t want to get your hopes up.

Finally they do come back. And Cap’nport is so proud of Lucretia, and you’re proud of her too. You know the two of you have become closer, afraid and alone together for a year, and you’re so glad to see her happy again. You’re so glad to have everyone back, and for many years all is well (as well as it can be). Sometimes someone disappears, but everyone reassures you that they’ll come back, and they always do.

And then Lup disappears. And when the others tell you she’ll be back, they don’t say _next year_ , they say _soon_ , and you can tell they don’t believe it. Everyone was sad before she left, and now they’re even sadder, and you worry. Lucretia has been looking especially sad and thoughtful, and you sing to her hoping to cheer her up, but she just smiles at you in a way that shows she’s trying not to cry. In a way that almost looks guilty.

And then she does something strange. She feeds you all the journals she’s been working so hard on, and tells you not to broadcast them. You want the world to know about the relics your family created so that everyone can recognize their talent, but you do as you’re told. Maybe then she’ll be happier. You’re eating the last journal when Magnus comes in with a new duck for you, and for a moment you’re happy, because maybe this means he’s feeling better. But he looks confused, and he’s grabbing his head, and Lucretia’s crying and apologizing and he’s collapsing on the ground -

And then everyone disappears. And there's no one there to tell you they’re going to come back. Finally Lucretia and Cap’nport return, but the captain isn’t himself, and Lucretia looks sadder than she has in all the time you’ve known her. But you have a surprise for her. You’ve laid an egg! And you’re so happy and excited to be a parent, and excited to be adding to the family. Your family is going to come back, of course; this has happened before, just you and Lucretia, and you’re a little nervous but surely it’ll be okay, especially since Cap’nport’s here this time. You show the egg to Lucretia, proud and joyful and sure it will make her smile. It does.

And then she takes your egg. She _takes_ your _baby,_ and it hatches in a tank all alone, and Lucretia keeps apologizing and you’re confused and scared but you try to trust her because she’s your friend. She’s your family. And Cap’nport isn’t stopping her, and he’s your family even if he seems a little confused right now, and everything is going to be okay. Lucretia feeds your baby some journals, and you watch and try to be brave because you’re sure she’s going to give you your child back soon.

She doesn’t. Eventually you’re in a big tank in a big room away from your baby, and the rest of your family still hasn’t come back. Every now and then someone comes in and drinks from your tank. Sometimes they fall on the floor, sometimes they yell, sometimes they even cry. There’s a bard whose job is to write beautiful music to feed you, and you know that back on your homeworld your old family would have approved his songs in an instant, and his tutors would have been so proud. He grumbles a lot, always complaining that no one will ever know about him or his music because you keep making it be forgotten. You want to broadcast his songs to the entire universe so that everyone will see how talented he is, but you’re not allowed to do that. The Director said that you can have your baby back when “this” is all over. You’re not sure what “this” is and you’re not sure you believe her, but you don’t want to know what will happen if you break the rules.

She’s “the Director” or “Madame Director” all the time, now. You miss Lucretia.

And then, one day, the doors open and Magnus, Merle, and Taako come in. Your joy and relief are indescribable. They’re alive! They’re okay! Your best friend! Your family! Barry and Lup are still gone, but maybe now the Director won’t be so sad and tired all the time. Maybe now “this” is over, and you can be reunited with your child.

But something is wrong. Something is wrong almost like the way Davenport sometimes wanders in and stares at you in a daze, the way he puts his hands against the glass and you can’t bear to call him Captain anymore because it feels like mockery.

They don’t recognize you. Magnus, your best friend, the man who saved your life, doesn’t recognize you. They drink from your tank and they clutch their heads and remember things, like everyone does, but they don’t remember you.

One day Magnus puts his hand on your tank and you reach out to it with your tentacle, willing him to remember. You know it won’t work, but in a surge of foolish hope you sing to him. Barry and Lup used to play for you and you would sing along, and they taught you how to match up your notes to make words in their language, and you sing to him in the desperate hope that if he doesn’t remember, at least he will understand:

E G G B A B E

He doesn’t, but Johann has music running in his veins, and he plays it back to you. You sing with him, ecstatic. He hears you, he understands, he can help –

He doesn’t understand. You feel angry. He’s frightened. You feel guilty.

And then it happens. Magnus comes to you, and you give him your memories of their time together in the caves of your birth, of him saving you as the Hunger’s beasts came crashing down on your home. You give him everything you can without hurting him, and you give him your fear and your sorrow and your love, and he doesn’t remember, but at least now he knows that he has something to learn.

And he tells you he’ll bring you your baby. You’ve given up on believing the Director. Somehow, you can’t help but believe him.

The Hunger comes, for the first time in so long, as it always did and eventually always does. Johann is dead, and you’re free from your tank but everything hurts and you’re so, so tired.

You were right to believe Magnus. He comes, and he brings you your child, and you can tell instantly that he remembers. He’s got that reckless good-doing look in his eyes, and you clutch your baby close and point him towards Johann’s last song. Johann is dead. The Hunger is here. You have your child back.

The Director’s rules don’t mean _anything_.

Johann’s music brings you strength, his soul and his words flowing through your body in the play of the notes, and you haul yourself up into the air with your baby swirling around you.

_Listen,_ you say to your child. _Do as I do. This is what we were meant for._

And you broadcast. You broadcast Johann’s last work to the universe, singing as loud as you can, and knowing that this is right, this is important, this is what he deserved. Your child sings, singing the words that Lucretia fed them so long ago, the story of your family and their creations and the love that they had for the worlds they could and couldn’t save.

You know your songs are echoing through the minds of every living thing, Johann’s notes and Lucretia’s words, and as you rise above the Bureau of Balance you see the slightest hesitation in the dark, dispassionate storm that is the Hunger.

You and your child, you are singing love – your love for your family, their love for the universe and for each other, Johann’s love for his songs, Lucretia’s love for her words, because in this moment she is Lucretia again and while you do not yet forgive you think that perhaps you can understand –

You are singing love, and the Hunger is wise to flinch.


End file.
